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Published — 16 March 2023 The TLS - books and culture

In A Green Shade

This week, Helen Bynum enjoins us to consider the secret lives of plants; and Jacqueline Banerjee on love and marriage in the world of George Eliot.


‘Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant Intelligence’ by Paco Calvo with Natalie Lawrence

‘The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s Double Life’ by Clare Carlisle


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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Published — 12 March 2023 The TLS - books and culture
Published — 9 March 2023 The TLS - books and culture

The Isle is Full of Noises

Flora Willson explores the struggle of four women composers to have their work heard, and Biancamaria Fontana on the late David Graeber’s survey of Madagascan pirate kingdoms.


‘Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World’ by Leah Broad

‘Pirate Enlightenment: Or the Real Libertalia’ by David Graeber


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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Published — 7 March 2023 The TLS - books and culture

Turning Leaves

In our first instalment, we talk to novelist Dame Margaret Drabble and her son, gardener and TV presenter Joe Swift. Their wide-ranging conversation includes a disagreement over pelargoniums, Joe’s childhood insistence on playing football in his mother’s cottage garden, the joys of irregular hedges and fashions in fiction and foliage alike. 

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Published — 5 March 2023 The TLS - books and culture
Published — 2 March 2023 The TLS - books and culture

Coming to Fruition

This week, Margaret Drabble and Joe Swift talk about the relationship between literature and gardening; and a new short-story collection from Margaret Atwood.


‘Turning Leaves’, a new podcast from the TLS team

‘Old Babes in the Wood’ by Margaret Atwood


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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Published — 26 February 2023 The TLS - books and culture
Published — 23 February 2023 The TLS - books and culture

A Treasure on Your Shelf, Waiting

This week we hear about the pursuit of the perfect library, and celebrate the brilliance of crime writer Josephine Tey. 


Irina Dumitrescu on the bibliophile’s life

‘The Franchise Affair’, ‘To Love and Be Wise’ and ‘The Daughter of Time’ by Josephine Tey


Produced by Charlotte




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Published — 19 February 2023 The TLS - books and culture
Published — 16 February 2023 The TLS - books and culture

Dogs Days in the Writer’s Life

This week, we examine the highs and very many lows of the writing life. Tom Seymour Evans explores a disquieting biography of crime writer James Ellroy, and Stephen Marche shines a light into the abyss of literary failure in his new book.


‘Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy’ by Steven Powell

‘On Writing and Failure’ by Stephen Marche


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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Published — 12 February 2023 The TLS - books and culture
Published — 9 February 2023 The TLS - books and culture

State Secrets and Private Passions

This week, Richard Norton-Taylor braves the terrifying world of cyberattacks and their brutal cost; and Lucasta Miller on an intriguing collection of 19th-century commonplace books.


'Pegasus: The Story of the World’s Most Dangerous Spyware’ by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud

‘Striking Back: The End of Peace in Cyberspace - and How to Restore It’ by Lucas Kello

The work of scholar and collector William St Clair


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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Published — 5 February 2023 The TLS - books and culture
Published — 2 February 2023 The TLS - books and culture

All Those Old Familiar Places

This week, Elizabeth Dearnley hunts for the hags, fairies and wandering women of the pagan past; and Ruth Scurr on a thrilling final book from the celebrated journalist Janet Malcolm.


‘Queens of the Wild: Pagan Goddesses In Christian Europe’ by Ronald Hutton

‘Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory’ by Janet Malcolm


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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Published — 29 January 2023 The TLS - books and culture
Published — 26 January 2023 The TLS - books and culture

Telling It Like It Is

Richard Smyth remembers the equanimity and attentiveness of Ronald Blythe; and Mary Flannery on the enduring appeal of Alison, the Wife of Bath.


‘Next to Nature: A Lifetime in the English Countryside’ by Ronald Blythe

‘The Wife of Bath: A Biography’ by Marion Turner


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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Published — 22 January 2023 The TLS - books and culture
Published — 19 January 2023 The TLS - books and culture

Rattling The Handle On Life

This week, Gabriel Roberts explores the past, present and - we very much hope - the future of bioabundance in animal species; and novelist Gwendoline Riley takes us into the affecting and brutally funny world of Michael Bracewell’s return to fiction after 21 years.


Species loss and bioabundance, by Gabriel Roberts

‘Unfinished Business’ by Michael Bracewell


Produced by Charlotte Pardy


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Published — 16 January 2023 The TLS - books and culture
Published — 9 January 2023 The TLS - books and culture
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